Linguistique générale et romane: Études en allemand, anglais, espagnol et français by BertilMalmbergReview by: R. E. AsherThe Modern Language Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 1976), pp. 607-608Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3725752 .

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REVIEWS

Linguistique generale et romane: Etudes en allemand, anglais, espagnol et franfais. By BERTIL MALMBERG. (Janua Linguarum, Series Maior, 66) The Hague and Paris: Mouton. I973. 443 pp. fl I I.

This book is a companion volume to the same author's Phonetique generale et romane (1971). The two together include the greater part of Professor Malmberg's article- length publications and give a clear indication of the exceptional range of his interests and fields of competence. The main omissions are articles published in Swedish, and items that appeared in the forties and which have presumably been judged to be of limited topical interest.

As its title implies, Linguistique generale et romane falls into two parts. It contains twenty-eight items on general linguistic topics and sixteen on Romance linguistics. Most are written in French (twenty-nine) and there are but four each in German and Spanish. They are taken from a variety of sources, being made up of articles from journals, contributions to festschrifts, conference papers, public lectures (some apparently published here for the first time), reviews of important books, obituary notices (of Louis Hjelmslev and Alf Sommerfelt), and extracts from books. The inclusion of the latter category may seem surprising, but it is justified by the fact that a book which may not appear to demand republication in its entirety yet contains parts which are of current interest. With the exception of these extracts, only five items are pre-I96o.

The division of the book into two sections is clearly a useful one, even if the implied distinction is not easy to draw - a point suitably illustrated by the sub- title 'Probleme de linguistique generale' attached to an article in the second section (no. 32, 'L'espagnol dans le Nouveau Monde'). Similarly, the compiling of two distinct collections does not imply the rigid separation of phonetics and linguistics, and one welcomes the partial statement here of Professor Malmberg's views on the place of phonetics in linguistics (no. 12, 'Linguistic Theory and Phonetic Methods').

The titles of some pairs of items in the general linguistics section suggest that they simply repeat each other in a different language (nos 3 and 4, 'Linguistic Barriers to Communication in the Modern World' and 'Barreras lingiilsticas en el mundo de hoy'; nos 13 and I4, 'Notes sur le signe arbitraire' and 'El signo arbitrario': com- pare also no. I6, 'De Ferdinand de Saussure a Roman Jakobson - l'arbitraire du signe et la substance phonique du langage'). In each case, however, the emphasis is sufficiently different to justify the inclusion of both members of each pair.

No attempt has been made to divide the entries in the two sections into subsets. The recurrence of certain themes nevertheless reflects Professor Malmberg's main preoccupations, which we have become familiar with through his books. Thus a number are concerned with the history of theoretical linguistics (e.g. the obituary notices; no. 8, 'Un demi-siecle de recherche linguistique'; no. 9, 'Les grandes tendances de la linguistique moderne'). Several show the author's consciousness of the importance of the legacy of Saussure (especially nos I3-16). There are several phonological studies (nos 17-22), more often than not concerned with the theory of distinctive features. Professor Malmberg's interest in theoretical questions has not prevented him from displaying an awareness of the practical bearing of the study of language. His views on the social relevance of the discipline are expressed in the items on linguistics and communication (i.e. communication as 'a social phenomenon'; cf. nos 3, 4, and 25). The sort of thinking that led to his being willing to take on the editorship of the International Review of Applied Linguistics is given expression in a number of places (no. 26, 'Applied Linguistics', an editorial

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6o8 6o8 Reviews Reviews

article in thatjournal; no. 27, 'Applications of Linguistics'; no. 23, 'La contribution de la linguistique aux problemes de l'enseignement des langues').

In the second section, apart from an item on Romance in general (no. 36, 'Zu Harri Meiers Die Entstehung der romanischen Sprachen und Nationen') and three on French (no. 29 on the subjunctive in Old French; no. 3I, 'Sur une tentative de former un nouvel imparfait du subjonctif en francais moderne'; no. 30, 'Anc. fr. ves... et questions connexes', taken from the introduction to his edition of the Roman du Comte de Poitiers (I940), 'un travail de jeunesse' and therefore provided (p. 258) with an additional note taking account of more recent work), the con- centration is on Ibero-Romance. Portuguese is the central topic of only one paper (no. 38, 'Brasileirismos'). Except for two papers on Ibero-Romance as a whole, one a general discussion of 'Linguistique iberique et ibero-romane- problemes et methodes' (no. 41) and one an examination of the question of 'ermolho etc. en ibero-roman' (no. 39), the remaining eight items are devoted to Spanish, approxi- mately equal attention being given to Spain and Latin America.

A good number of the pieces contained in this volume (which vary in length from the page or so on Sommerfelt (no. 6) to the fifty-three pages on Spanish in the New World (no. 32)) are frequently referred to by other scholars and all are worth reading. It will be very helpful, therefore, to have them readily available in a single volume, even though the price will tend to inhibit the individual buyer. An index would have considerably improved the book's usefulness and an introduction drawing attention to major recurrent themes would have been a valuable embellishment.

R. E. ASHER EDINBURGH

Wittgenstein. By ANTHONY KENNY. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. I975. x + 240 pp. 8op.

Kenny's carefully written introduction to Wittgenstein's work, first published in I973, now makes a welcome appearance in paperback -apparently a reduced facsimile of the hardback edition. It is a good book, and may be recommended both to a professional student of the subject, and to a serious general reader. It is the only commentary that surveys the whole of Wittgenstein's currently available work. One of Kenny's special qualifications is the fact that he has translated the important transitional work, dating from 1932-4, entitled Philosophical Grammar (London, I974), and indeed, he devotes a chapter of the present commentary to that book. One of Kenny's aims is to stress the continuity of Wittgenstein's output. During his life (1889-I951) Wittgenstein published only Tractatus Logico-Philoso- phicus (I922, although written earlier) -he withdrew an article of I929. Philo- sophical Investigations was published posthumously in 1953, and was generally taken as a complete repudiation of everything he had done before. Eight more volumes have been issued since then, ranging in date of composition from around I912 to 195I, and there are still almost 20,000 pages of material in the hands of the execu- tors. It has become clear that there is continuity between the later and earlier work, in spite of obvious contrasts, and Kenny singles out eight claims that constitute a core in the early doctrine and which undergo specific modification: a proposition is essentially composite, and its elements are conventionally correlated with elements of reality; combined elements yield sense without further convention; a proposition stands in an internal relation to the possible state of affairs which it presents, and this relation can only be shown, not stated informatively; a proposi- tion is true or false in virtue of its relation to reality, but a proposition must be

article in thatjournal; no. 27, 'Applications of Linguistics'; no. 23, 'La contribution de la linguistique aux problemes de l'enseignement des langues').

In the second section, apart from an item on Romance in general (no. 36, 'Zu Harri Meiers Die Entstehung der romanischen Sprachen und Nationen') and three on French (no. 29 on the subjunctive in Old French; no. 3I, 'Sur une tentative de former un nouvel imparfait du subjonctif en francais moderne'; no. 30, 'Anc. fr. ves... et questions connexes', taken from the introduction to his edition of the Roman du Comte de Poitiers (I940), 'un travail de jeunesse' and therefore provided (p. 258) with an additional note taking account of more recent work), the con- centration is on Ibero-Romance. Portuguese is the central topic of only one paper (no. 38, 'Brasileirismos'). Except for two papers on Ibero-Romance as a whole, one a general discussion of 'Linguistique iberique et ibero-romane- problemes et methodes' (no. 41) and one an examination of the question of 'ermolho etc. en ibero-roman' (no. 39), the remaining eight items are devoted to Spanish, approxi- mately equal attention being given to Spain and Latin America.

A good number of the pieces contained in this volume (which vary in length from the page or so on Sommerfelt (no. 6) to the fifty-three pages on Spanish in the New World (no. 32)) are frequently referred to by other scholars and all are worth reading. It will be very helpful, therefore, to have them readily available in a single volume, even though the price will tend to inhibit the individual buyer. An index would have considerably improved the book's usefulness and an introduction drawing attention to major recurrent themes would have been a valuable embellishment.

R. E. ASHER EDINBURGH

Wittgenstein. By ANTHONY KENNY. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. I975. x + 240 pp. 8op.

Kenny's carefully written introduction to Wittgenstein's work, first published in I973, now makes a welcome appearance in paperback -apparently a reduced facsimile of the hardback edition. It is a good book, and may be recommended both to a professional student of the subject, and to a serious general reader. It is the only commentary that surveys the whole of Wittgenstein's currently available work. One of Kenny's special qualifications is the fact that he has translated the important transitional work, dating from 1932-4, entitled Philosophical Grammar (London, I974), and indeed, he devotes a chapter of the present commentary to that book. One of Kenny's aims is to stress the continuity of Wittgenstein's output. During his life (1889-I951) Wittgenstein published only Tractatus Logico-Philoso- phicus (I922, although written earlier) -he withdrew an article of I929. Philo- sophical Investigations was published posthumously in 1953, and was generally taken as a complete repudiation of everything he had done before. Eight more volumes have been issued since then, ranging in date of composition from around I912 to 195I, and there are still almost 20,000 pages of material in the hands of the execu- tors. It has become clear that there is continuity between the later and earlier work, in spite of obvious contrasts, and Kenny singles out eight claims that constitute a core in the early doctrine and which undergo specific modification: a proposition is essentially composite, and its elements are conventionally correlated with elements of reality; combined elements yield sense without further convention; a proposition stands in an internal relation to the possible state of affairs which it presents, and this relation can only be shown, not stated informatively; a proposi- tion is true or false in virtue of its relation to reality, but a proposition must be

This content downloaded from 91.238.114.11 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:14:59 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions